teddy boy fashion/pattens/clothing

the history of teddy boy fashion 

The word Drapeitself was used by Americans when talking about the Zoot suit, referring to it as a set of drapes. The deformed box or coffin cut of the Neo-Edwardian jacket was American in idea and dated back to the zoot-suit with its huge sloping shoulders. The back of the jacket was box cut with no seam or vents, it could have a 2 inch turn-up around the cuffs of the sleeves and flap, ticket or jetted pockets, but not velvet.

 4 buttons which could be bone but not velvet. Velvet might just be around the top of the collar or maybe no velvet at all but remember although the basic suit was drab, the tie and waistcoat made up for that.

 The Maverick tie, Cravat, Boot Lace tie, a loosely tied bow tie or slightly later a Slim Jim Tie were all worn. It depended on your area, what your mates wore and the date as to what Ted gear you wore. Here we shall refer to the tightly knotted tie, which was a throwback again to America and the Jive style. 

 ties would be worn along with a loudly flashy silk brocade waistcoat - or weskit- and a fob watch with a chain linked through the 'weskit' this altogether made these boys who wanted to stay out of the gaze of the law, leap straight into the view of the police. All trousers were higher fitting but these Neo-Edwardians wore the tighter drainpipe style of 'strides'. 

For footwear the choice was Oxford, brogue, crepe soled suede chukka shoes or boots, or the thicker crepe of Brothel Creepers. The hair was American in style, the hair could be piled into a pompadour, an elephant trunk quiff, a silver dollar or a crew cut. An early Edwardian might have had the sides and back of his hair tapered up high but a greasy, messy quiff with sideburns finished off with a Ducks Arse thickly greased down the back of the head became the most popular as time went by. The actual style of these Neo-Edwardians was a mix of many influences that kept harking back to Edwardian Britain.

but Truthfully, they were just unskilled, working class young men but in their heads there was something of the western frock coated gunslinger blended into the Teddy boy.

The Teddy Boy was considerably different in terms of style from the original Neo-Edwardian era fashion which was started by Saville Row Tailors around August 1948. This was because the Teddy Boy fashion incorporated elements of American Western dress such as Maverick Ties and Silk Brocade Waistcoats worn by Wild West Gamblers and Gunslingers.  It should be pointed out at this point, that the original Teddy Boys tended to wear a separate non-matching Jacket, Trousers and Waistcoat (as shown in the photograph of Mick Farrell above) as opposed to matching 3-piece Drape suits which tend to be worn by Teddy Boys nowadays.  In Edinburgh during the 1950's the wearers of 3 piece Drape suits would have been referred to as 'Edwardians' and not 'Teddy Boys'.